Press
& Public
Excluded from
GA in
September, UN
Won't Say
Who Decided

By
Matthew
Russell Lee

UNITED
NATIONS,
August 12 --
During the UN
General
Assembly's
debate week
this September
there will not
be a single
seat for the
press or
public, it was
confirmed
Monday at the
UN. Who has
made this
decision is
not clear.

The
interim
General
Assembly Hall
will have 1000
seats, a UN
Security
official
estimated,
compared to
1,800 in the
old Hall now
under
repair.
Countries'
delegations
are being
given an
addition 560
seats
in an adjacent
overflow room.

But
for the press
and public,
which used to
be able to
witness the
proceedings
from the
fourth floor
mezzanine,
nothing. Not a
single
seat. (Also, a
media stakeout
by North Lawn
Conference
Room 1, available
and used last
year, is
slated for
elimination.)

Yet
DPI is
acknowledging
that this
exclusionary
GA Week is
coming,
holding a
pre-GA
briefing on
August 12.
There, when
Inner City
Press
asked a DPI
staffer who
was
responsible
for the
decision of no
seats
for the press
or public, the
answer was the
"probably" the
Department of
General
Assembly and
Conference
Management --
a
Department
that has not
held a press
conference in
years.

After
a detailed
briefing about
how live
broadcasts
shots can be
obtained,
this year on
the lawn in
front of the
UN rather than
the old Press
Island, Inner
City Press for
FUNCA asked
how the day's
"Stress
Test" of the
UN's audio -
visual
broadcasting
system had
gone.
Click here
for Inner City
Press' curtain
raiser on the
test.

While
the results
are not yet
in, Inner City
Press
confirmed on
Monday that
in a Town Hall
meeting on
July 15, DPI's
chief
acknowledged
to DPI
staff the
problems with
the new "MAMS"
system,
blaming them
on firewalls
and saying
that it was
being dealt
with through
Department of
Management
chief Yukio
Takasu. So who
is
responsible?
Watch this
site.

Footnote:
DPI's
chief at the
July 15 town
hall meeting
made much of
new
technology,
social media,
responsiveness.
So it is
striking that
Dujarric and
DPI have
actually
become less
responsive to
press access
issues
politely but
publicly
raised through
social media.
This UN is
closing in on
itself; FUNCA
will continue
to oppose
that.